Ale Industries

Photo by Lori Eanes

As much as Morgan Cox and Stephen Lopas love beer, they’re just as passionate about the environment. And the co-founders of Ale Industries have put their money where their mouths are at their new production brewery and tasting room, located in a beautifully renovated old warehouse space in Oakland’s Fruitvale district (where they moved from Concord earlier this year). They call it the Fruitvale Fermentation Factory. They deliver their product via a biodiesel truck, operate an electronic forklift to move kegs, and are now using a biofueled boiler that Cox ordered and rigged to use for brewing operations, one of the only such examples in the country. The goal is to eventually run a completely carbon-neutral brewery. “It’s nice to get to the point where I’m able to take my personal dreams and concepts and apply them to our business,"; Cox says.— Ethan Fletcher